The Rescue of Jonas Quinn
by MidKnight Rider
Summary: This is an attempt on my part to fix the stunning dismissal of Jonas Quinn from the SG multiverse. It also turned into a kick-ass Sam and Vala adventure.
1. Chapter 1

**This is an attempt on my part to fix the stunning dismissal of Jonas Quinn from the SG multiverse. An ensemble story is very difficult to write and since in my little SG world there is no way Daniel would go back to Kelowna, this chapter is just to set all of that up and pare down the number of characters involved with the rescue of Jonas Quinn. It exists in my Sunshine and Shadow/Moonlight and Steel AU but I have been constantly encouraged to make it a stand-alone story for the Jonas Quinn fans. Sunshine and Shadow readers lived through Daniel's first death and Ascension with Jillian (his wife in that series) and will understand her reaction. At this point in that series they have a son named Jonathan Daniel. **

**Sam and Jack are also in an established but still clandestine relationship. This turned into a pretty kick-ass Sam & Vala adventure when it was done.**

**(0)**

The voice of Chief Harriman was still insistently paging Daniel to his office over the base intercom system as Daniel was exiting the elevator.

"All right, all right," he growled under his breath as he walked more quickly. He checked his phone one more time because if something was wrong with Jillian surely someone would have texted him about it and he wouldn't be getting paged to his own office.

He rounded the corner into the office with a thousand questions all wanting to tumble out at the same time. But they all died unasked when he saw who was waiting for him.

Cameron, Sam, and Teal'c, and seated in the chair at the desk was Jack O'Neill.

Daniel stumbled to a halt.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He spoke as if no one else was in the room and it was obvious that it was directed at Jack.

"Waiting for you apparently. Where were you?"

"On my way home. I was almost in the elevator. How did you get here?"

"Asgard beam," Jack answered. "As to why I'm here, come in and close the door."

Daniel felt a small thrill of alarm as he pushed the door closed with a decisive click. He walked over to his desk and had a short and silent confrontation with Jack over the chair. When Jack didn't get up, Daniel sighed in frustration and hopped up on the table. "So what's up?"

"We heard from SG-23," Jack said.

Sam straightened on the stool at the table. "The team you sent to Langara to search for Jonas," she said.

"Yep."

"What did they find?"

Jack sat back in the chair and rocked it for a moment. "Nothing," he said.

"Nothing?" Sam repeated.

"Oh, they found the Ori. They've pretty much taken over. There are pockets of resistance, but nothing that's making much of a dent yet. What they did not find was Jonas Quinn, or any sign of him."

"His locator beacon," Teal'c began but Jack shook his head.

"No sign of it," he repeated. "Either he doesn't want to be found or he isn't on Langara anymore."

"You're sure?" Daniel asked skeptically.

"SG-23 is the best at what they do, Daniel."

"What exactly is it that they do, Jack?"

Jack refused to answer, just stared hard enough for long enough that Daniel decided to drop it.

"Could he have Gated off-world?" Sam asked.

"It's possible. Twenty Three wasn't authorized to go planetside. They were told to scan for him and see what they could find. There's not much on the public airwaves these days except for Ori propaganda and if he still has a radio he wouldn't – or couldn't – respond to it.

"And they didn't dare try to raise him on the radio too long or too often," Sam guessed.

"No," Jack admitted.

"So when are we leaving to go look for him?" Sam asked, urgently.

"I can't justify sending a team to look for one man who isn't even part of the program anymore, Carter," Jack answered.

"But we _are_ going to look for him," Daniel said, peering at Jack over the top of his glasses.

"All I can do is authorize SG-1 for some serious downtime. You've all got more leave time saved than you ever use. What you do with that is up to you."

The four members of SG-1 exchanged meaningful looks.

"Can you get us an Al'kesh?" Cameron asked Teal'c.

The Jaffa flashed him a wolfish smile. "Indeed. One complete with weaponry, rings and cloaking technology."

"You don't have to go, Cam," Sam said. "You didn't even know Jonas."

"I read the reports. If the rest of SG-1 is going, I'm going," Cam answered. Since there didn't seem to be anyone inclined to argue with him he added, "And I think we should take Vala. This is the kind of thing she should be good at. She can fly an Al'kesh, for one thing."

No one seemed inclined to argue with that either, though all of them looked at Jack, who shrugged and stood up. "If you think she'll help, take her along."

"What about weapons? We can't leave the base with P90s," Sam pointed out.

"We can beam out with them though," Cameron said. Then he looked at Jack for permission.

"Let me know what you need," O'Neill said. "Oh, and make sure you let me know when you're ready to leave."

"Why?" Sam asked, suddenly suspicious.

Jack grinned a little bit. "Because I'm coming too."

Before any of them could react in any way but stunned silence, a light engulfed Jack. It briefly blinded all of them and when it was gone, so was Jack.

(0)

Daniel approached the subject of Jonas very cautiously that night, in his home, after his son had fallen asleep for the night to a soft lullaby from his mother. Jillian joined him in the kitchen, where he was cleaning out the coffee maker and getting it ready for morning. She tried to help but he took the things out of her hands and set them on the sink and pulled her around to face him.

"What?" She asked, instantly alert that something was going on.

Very slowly, with his hands linked behind her back, Daniel told him about Jack's visit and what they were going to do. When he finished he waited. He had believed he was ready for her reaction and for her objections. He even had arguments planned and reassurances.

But nothing had prepared him for what Jillian did next. She stared at him for a moment and then her eyes filled with tears and she flung her arms around him.

"_Don't_," she whispered with her face pressed against his chest and her fists gripping handfuls of his shirt against his back. Her voice was fierce and filled with terror.

"Jill," he gasped her name, startled. His arms tightened around her automatically.

"Don't go there," she repeated. He had never heard her sound this way. Not ever. She had started to tremble as if she was feverish. "Please, Daniel. I have never asked you not to go on any mission. I've never stood in the way of anything you wanted to do, but I am _begging_ you this time not to go. Not to Kelowna. Not there, anywhere but there."

There were few things that made Daniel speechless, but this did. He braced his feet to bring her in closer, tightened his hold on her and bent his head into hers. "Jill-"

"_Daniel_," she cut him off, "Just please _don't._ You weren't here. You don't know what it was like. Jonas was here. He knows. He'll understand! Every time you go there - It's like, it's like Tegalus only worse. Jonas wouldn't ask this of you. He wouldn't ask it of _me_."

It was pretty clear to Daniel by this time that nothing he said was going to make any difference. She had told him once that he was like a star that had fallen into her hands and then she had been forced to put him back in the sky and it was the most painful thing she'd ever experienced.

"The team," he said, helplessly, "Sam, Teal'c-"

"They did just fine without you for fifteen months," she said, sharp as a knife. "I didn't. Daniel, _please."_

She was actually crying now, sobbing into his shirt in a way he had never seen. Unconsciously he had started rocking, the way he did when JD was upset beyond calming.

"Okay," he said, defeated, because _god_ when Jillian cried he would do _anything_ to make her stop. "All right. I won't. Jill, it's okay. I won't go."

It took a moment for what he was saying to penetrate. She took a deep, shaky breath and looked up at him.

"I don't want you to feel controlled. I would never do that to you," she still sounded so torn and miserable that it nearly broke his heart. "This isn't a cage, Daniel. This is your home and I'm your wife not your jailer-"

"Jill, stop. That's not how you're making me feel," he paused to wipe the tears from her cheek with his thumb and then cradled the side of her face in his palm, "I forget sometimes that it was you who endured those fifteen months. I don't even remember them; and you're right that Jonas wouldn't ask any of us to do this. I'm also an idiot who forgets sometimes how much you love me. You seem so strong all the time. So independent. I forget how fragile you can be when it comes to me. I'll tell the team I'm not going. You're right. You have never once asked me not to do something, no matter how dangerous. I can sit this one out. I can think of a dozen things I can be doing with downtime, including spending it with you and JD."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, turning her head to kiss the heel of his hand. "I don't want to hold you back, not ever. But I ..I…"

He pulled her close again and she pressed her face into his chest again. "It's all right," he said again. "You've been through something unique in the history of relationships and come out stronger."

"Not stronger," she said, looking up again and tossing her hair back, "Not stronger at all. The thought of losing you again brings me to my knees. I know that anything can happen to you out there. But there's something about Kelowna…. About Langara."

"I know that now," Daniel said, "I've always known it. Like I said, I'm just an idiot about some things."

"You're the most brilliant man I've ever met," she answered.

"Well, I did manage to marry you, so I'm not a complete idiot; and I've learned the nine most important words I ever need to say to you."

"Only nine in your vast multilingual vocabulary?" Jillian sniffed a little and tried a brave smile.

"Yes." He couldn't keep the emotional quaver out of his voice.

"And they are?"

"I love you," Daniel said, leaning down to sweetly kiss salt-tears from her cheek. "You are beautiful." He paused again to kiss her lips. "Please forgive me."

"_Daniel_," Jillian whispered. She reached up to put her arms around his neck and held him as if she would never let him go.

(0)


	2. Chapter 2

Daniel rarely had doubts about any decision he ever made. He had no doubts about this one, not after spending a night with Jillian restless and clinging to him in their bed. He had woken more than once to find her curled up close to him with her fists balled in his shirt. Of the two of them, Jillian had always been the better sleeper; it had always been Daniel who would wake at the slightest movement. But in the cold dark winter of last night, it had been Jillian who jumped and started and moved to touch him if he so much as twitched. The nightmare Jillian had lived after his death existed outside of logic and even outside of everyone else's reality. There wasn't a psychologist on the planet that could help her with what had happened.

Jillian – his true north, his rock, his guiding light – had come as close to breaking down as he had ever seen. It tilted the foundation of his world. His death still followed Jillian like a constant shadow. Every time she was reminded the scars from it bled afresh.

It seemed sometimes to Daniel that by being married to him, Jillian was living a dream and a nightmare at the same time.

Daniel was determined to fix that by putting his marriage ahead of his career for the first time. He would tell the team he wasn't going and they would understand.

He still had a nagging feeling that Jillian would not stop being restless and clingy until SG-1 returned with Jonas Quinn and she knew it was truly over.

He was just slightly surprised that she had chosen to stay home with JD rather than go with him back to the mountain to tell SG-1 that he wasn't going this time.

His team was in their private locker room, going over notes and the report from SG-23 that Jack had sent them. It was one of the few places SG-1 could talk freely on the Base, since security was nonexistent.

"Oh hey, Jackson, c'mon in and have a seat," Mitchell said, scooting over on the bench to make room for him.

When Daniel closed the door but made no further attempt to come into the room, Teal'c paused at his locker and eyed him narrowly.

"What is wrong, Daniel Jackson?"

It was the way they had learned to read each other, over the long years and many missions. The slightest change in breathing was enough to alert one of them that something was going on. When Teal'c spoke, everyone – even the two newest members – turned to look at Daniel.

"I'm not going with you," Daniel said bluntly.

"What?" Cameron blurted out.

"What's going on, Daniel?" Sam asked, almost in the same breath.

Teal'c stiffened and braced his shoulder as if he sensed trouble coming and wanted to head it off. Vala, seated cross-legged on the floor and twirling the end of a ponytail around her finger, sat up straight up. Her eyes got very bright with immediate interest.

"I told Jillian what we were going to do and she, um…" he broke off uncertainly.

"Had a meltdown?" Cam guessed. He'd read the reports without anything in them being redacted but he could still only imagine the personal cost of Daniel's death on his relationship with Jillian.

"It was pretty nuclear," Daniel admitted.

"Man," Cameron sighed.

"I'm sorry guys, but I just can't do that to her. She said that Jonas wouldn't ask that of me and that he wouldn't ask it of her and she's right."

"From what I read you and Quinn are pretty square in the life-saving department," Cameron observed.

Daniel frowned. "Yeah, I suppose. Though I owe him Teal'c and Sam and Jack a few times over, and it's hard to let any of you go off without me. But this is about my relationship with Jill, and she's made it perfectly clear how she feels about me going with you. This is about trust and being honest with each other, and if I don't respect this, I'll lose her."

"Jillian would never leave you, Daniel," Sam protested.

"No, I don't think she would leave me," Daniel agreed, "but it wouldn't be the same. She wouldn't trust me to respect her feelings and that's something I won't risk. Besides, I _do_ respect her feelings. She put up with me freaking out every time there was a threat she might be within a hundred miles of a Goa'uld. I threatened to tie her to a chair once rather than let her come to the base because there were three system lords here."

"Oh, wait!" Cam said, excitedly. "Yu, Camulus and uh…wait…"

"Amaterasu," Daniel supplied, impatiently.

"I was gonna get it," Cameron complained.

"We know, Cam," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway," Daniel said pointedly. "I'm not going. I'll do whatever I can to help you get ready and if you find that Jonas left Langara we can talk about it again and see how she feels. I don't think it's so much Jonas himself, because I know she loves him the way she loves all of you. I think it's just Langara, Kelowna specifically."

"We all understand, Daniel," Sam said.

"You have made a wise choice, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said and Daniel gave him a long grateful look, because Teal'c had been there every step of the way for Jillian during Daniel's first Ascension. Teal'c knew better than any of them what she had suffered.

He nodded once, opened the door and left the room. SG-1 was silent for a brief moment and then Vala said, sarcastically, "Are all the men on this planet as devoted to the idea of marriage as the ones on this team or are we just lucky to have them?"

A low rumbling sigh left Teal'c that sounded like a warning of an oncoming storm. Mitchell looked pointedly at the report in his hand and remained silent. Very quietly Sam answered her.

"We aren't just lucky to have them, Vala," she said. "We are _very _lucky to have them."

(0)


	3. Chapter 3

It was five days to Kelowna by Al'Kesh. Vala had been delighted to be able to teach Cameron something for a change and they spent a lot of time together at the control as Cameron learned to fly.

Teal'c meditated and sparred with all of them at one time or another. He played chess with Jack and rigged a basketball court in one of the cargo bays so they could go two on two. Even Jack got into that once or twice.

They ate, slept, joked, talked, planned and played while the Al'Kesh took them ever closer to Kelowna and the mystery of Jonas Quinn.

By the time they settled into a cloak orbit around Langara Jack had made the decision to send Sam and Teal'c to the Gate room in the capitol city of Kelowna. He needed Sam to find out the last of the Gate addresses that had been dialed so they could determine if Jonas might have escaped to one of them. He needed Sam to read the technology. He trusted Teal'c to watch her back while she did it. He was taking Mitchell with him to confront the leadership of Kelowna for information, if they could be found and confronted. He was leaving Vala on board the Al'Kesh to beam them out at the first sign of trouble.

Jack was the least happy about that last decision but it was why she had been brought along and Daniel said she could be trusted. So he was once again ignoring all his instincts and gut reactions for no better reason than that he trusted Daniel.

He'd had a short and meaningful conversation with Sam about how much he trusted Mal Doran late at night scrunched together in her bunk on the Al'Kesh. He was lying on his back with Sam almost completely on top of him.

"She'll figure it out," Sam warned him, "Daniel and Teal'c did."

"Then let her. We don't have to confirm it. Look, I let you talk me into letting Mitchell in on it, but not Vala. I'm not giving her that kind of power over us. This is taking enough of a chance."

"She's a member of my team," Sam said.

Jack made a deep grunt of dismissal. "That's the only decision of Landry's that I almost over rode without hesitation."

Sam bit her lip in the darkness and then asked hesitantly. "Why didn't you? Wait! Daniel. Right?"

His second grunt was of acknowledgment. "Didn't feel like having him hound me until he got what he wanted."

"Jack-"

"You aren't going to win this one, Carter. So let it go."

Sam had settled down with a heavy sigh. Jack was very good at letting her determine the course of their relationship. She set the mood and the tone and pretty much ran the whole show. But when he put his foot down that was it.

Sam was nothing but professional the next morning as they prepared to beam down into a small space near the Kelownan Stargate. They were not picking up any signs of a Prior, and their unspoken instructions were to avoid them at all costs. There were no Ori ships in orbit and sensors were picking up only pockets of people living on what had once been a thriving continent. Tirania and the Andari Federation showed the most in terms of population but Kelowna in particular seemed hard hit. After the devastating effects of the naquadria bomb the opposite had been true for a long time.

Bent over the readouts, Sam and Jack had shared a grim look. "Knowing how stubborn and aggressive the Kelownans were they probably held out the longest," Sam said to him.

"Jonas always was the only one from that place who wasn't bat crap crazy," Jack answered in a low growl.

Sam actually blinked. "I don't see you giving up easily if the Ori make it to Earth."

Jack gave her a pointed look. "There are saner ways to fight than doing it in the full light of day."

Sam quivered inside a little. She forgot sometimes how many layers Jack O'Neill actually had.

There were still people living in the capitol but the outlying areas were conspicuously empty. There was little activity near the Stargate, which meant either it was gone or the Ori weren't concerned about anyone trying to leave through it. Neither option made Jack very happy. Langara in general didn't make Jack any happier than it made Jillian and for nearly the same reasons. He had often argued that the alliance wasn't worth all the trouble the planet had given them.

But Jack hadn't let Sam and Teal'c and Jonas risk their lives to save the planet only to lose it to the Ori instead. There were also strategic reasons to find out what was going on with Langara. Naquadria wasn't a substance the Ori should get their slimy hands on. It was the reasoning he had given for sending SG-23 in the first place – the need for recent and reliable intelligence about the state of the naquadria on Langara. Even the IOA hadn't been able to argue with him over that.

He doubted the entire industrialized planet had truly given in to the Book of Origin, not with Langara's history. He knew from his own history in Special Forces that there were going to be pockets of resistance similar to the one Vala had encountered in Ver Isca. He hoped to find at least one of them before rescuing Jonas. He hoped he would find Jonas leading one of those groups. But Jonas or not, he would send SG-23 and 24 back as reinforcements for any group they managed to locate.

"Any last minute instructions?" Sam asked.

"You know the drill," he said, feigning a nonchalance he didn't feel. He never liked sending her into danger and Sam knew it. "Get in, get out and don't get caught by the bad guys."

"Understood, sir," she said with a reassuring smile.

Jack didn't smile back. She didn't expect him too. But she knew exactly what he was thinking. She was still looking straight into his eyes when Vala hit the Asgard beam and they vanished off the Al-Kesh.

(0)


	4. Chapter 4

The Stargate complex was not entirely deserted. Sam and Teal'c materialized in a small corridor a short way from the room in which the Gate was kept. They were both armed with P90s and zats. Teal'c had a sling of extra ammunition for the P90s. Sam desperately wanted to avoid killing anyone on one of their allied planets, but she knew how things could get.

Teal'c picked up the presence of people before Sam did. She was never sure how he did that, if his senses were just that much stronger than those of the Tauri or if it was his decades of experience. But she never doubted him. When he ducked into an alcove and lifted his zat, Sam followed him immediately.

She heard the footsteps a half-instant after Teal'c tensed every muscle in his body in preparation to fight. When the footsteps were in exactly the place they wanted them, they stepped out as one unit and opened fire with the zats. The three people who had been approaching dropped in a blaze of coruscating light.

Sam and Teal'c froze back to back. Teal'c had a weapon in each hand, pointed in two directions. Everything was quiet. They relaxed infinitesimally. Sam looked at Teal'c with a question in her eyes and he nodded. They paused as Teal'c investigated the stunned figures for weapons or identification. When he found neither they proceeded to the door of the Gate Room and slipped in without further confrontation.

The Gate loomed over them, still and quiet in the dimly lit room. The DHD was hidden under a tarp. Sam pulled it off while Teal's took up a defensive position at the door. Sam hunkered down and pulled off the control panel.

"They've pulled two of the control crystals. No wonder it's not being guarded. No one can dial out from here. It's why we weren't able to dial in anymore. Both those crystals are necessary for those functions."

"Can you find the last address that was dialed?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes. Everything else has been wiped but the last address is here."

Sam noted the address and wrote it down, giving a copy to Teal'c and keeping one for herself. Then she hit the radio.

"Vala?"

"Here."

"We're ready to come back."

The Asgard beam flashed and took them away.

(0)

Concerned about setting off alarms in the State House of the Ruling Council, Jack had Vala put them down in an alleyway. The sun was slowly setting and they paused a moment to make sure their arrival had gone unnoticed. They made their way through the darkening streets, blending easily into the few people who were still wandering the streets, though it felt odd to Mitchell to be in civilian clothing. But the General had planned for everything. Langaran fashion sense didn't seem to have improved since they had first made contact in 2002 and the bland jumpsuit wasn't at all comfortable. But its shapeless design allowed for the concealment of a zat and a small handgun.

The people were all unusually quiet and it was easy to pick out the ones who were part of a patrol of some kind. They were out on the prowl for trouble makers. Jack and Cam kept their heads down and moved as if they knew where they wanted to go but weren't in a hurry to get there. The General seemed very good at hiding in plain sight.

The State House was surrounded by an eight foot high wall with guard towers in the corners. A large, recessed, arched entryway split the front wall in two. There was a huge iron gate that barred the entryway when it was closed but it was still open for the day. People were pouring out, no doubt finished with their daily shift at whatever work the Ori still allowed. There was a smaller group of people entering the building and Mitchell guessed these were the evening workers, the cleaning staff and custodians. He was surprised for only a moment to find that he and the General were dressed identically to the people walking complacently into the State House complex.

"General, sir," Mitchell began.

But Jack cut him off with a glance and a half-smile. "SG-23 is very good at what they do," he said.

"They were ordered to stay off the planet," Mitchell protested.

Jack shrugged as they slipped into the small stream of people going into the complex when everyone else was coming out. "Like I said, they are very good."

Cameron knew he wasn't going to get any more information than that so he fell silent.

The building itself was gleaming white marble, triangular with tall towers on each point, giving it the look of a palace. The towers themselves were indented in the middle, as if a giant fist had crushed them. They were flat-topped, with blinking landing lights around the perimeters. Each tower bore the flag of a different Langaran Nation. The flag of Kelowna flew alongside the personal seal of the Kelownan Minister, indicating that Minister Dreylock was currently in residence.

Obediently, they followed the flow of people into the palace and then into the back corridors, through maintenance doors. They took a fully stocked cleaning cart and then made for the cargo elevators that would take them up the Kelownan Tower. No one else tried to do the same thing and Jack assumed the tower was probably cleaned very late at night, after the First Minister had gone to bed.

They entered the main office and found it deserted. There was a door marked with a sign they assumed said something about it being a private entrance. It was locked, but Mitchell watched in fascination as Jack pulled a long pin out of the seam on his jumpsuit and expertly picked it open. The door swung open on a startled and instantly outraged First Minister Dreylock.

It took her a moment to look away from the uniforms and see the man. Mitchell she didn't know at all. But Jack… Well, he was hard to forget given their last encounter.

"General O'Neill?" She said, regaining her composure quickly.

"First Minister," he answered with a polite nod of his head.

Cameron crept in behind him and shut the door with a loud click.

"Jonas said you would come," she told them shaking her head as if she still didn't believe it.

Jack studied her closely, not quite sure if Dreylock was now a true believer in Origin. He started moving around the room as if he owned it, checking the other rooms, running his fingers around the edges of door and window frames looking for listening devices, closing windows.

"We lost contact," he said, slowly. "Had to come check it out."

"You warned us about the Ori. Everything you said was true."

"Can we talk in here?" He asked bluntly.

"As far as I know yes. There are no Priors on Langara at the moment and as for the Ori themselves they think we are all well and truly believers."

"Probably your safest course of action," Cameron said, softly.

Dreylock looked at him as if she was just noticing that Jack wasn't alone. Jack in the meantime had pulled out a small electronic device and was scanning the room with it. Cameron recognized it as a radio frequency detector with a spread spectrum analyzer.

It wasn't just SG-23 that was good, apparently.

Cam nodded to Dreylock and said, "Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell at your service, ma'am."

"What happened?" Jack asked when the device in his hand satisfied him that they weren't been spied on.

"At first they tried the plague but we used the cure given to us by Earth. Then they simply started burning cities. The Andari Federation capitulated first. We haven't heard from them in months. Kelowna held out longer but we were evacuating as many of our citizens as possible through the Stargate. Jonas Quinn argued against an evacuation to Earth. He didn't want to reveal your Gate address to the Ori. But when Earth first warned us of the Ori, Kelowna began searching through the Stargate for planets to colonize, similar to your Alpha and Beta sites. We moved a great deal of our artwork and national treasures to a planet not far from here, in interstellar terms. Jonas Quinn went through with some of the groups that evacuated but on his last trip we lost contact with them entirely. We have no idea what happened to them and then the Ori came after Kelowna and we lost five cities before we gave up."

"You have resistance groups?"

"Of course, but there isn't actually much we can do. Regretfully, the power shown by the Ori has actually convinced most of the population to worship them as gods. Are you here to offer us some kind of assistance?"

"What we can," Jack acknowledged. He briefly outlined their search for Merlin's weapon without going into any kind of historical detail. It was just enough to give her hope that the same people who had defeated the Replicators and the Goa'uld had some idea how to stop the Ori. Then he gave her a small black square and said, "Colonel Carter also developed a device that renders the Priors powerless. Dr. Jackson translated the instructions for building one into Kelownan."

Dreylock raised both eyebrows in surprise. "Dr. Jackson did that for us?"

Jack resisted the snarky comment that rose in his throat. "Yes he did," he said, instead.

"Dr. Jackson is an …extraordinary man," she said.

"Well, he was Enlightened, you know," Jack said, because in the end he couldn't ever quite stop himself from reminding the Kelownans that Daniel had died here. Daniel had beaten Death. So surely the Ori weren't going to be a problem for him. He let Dreylock's wince pass and added, "Carter says you have all the necessary technology to build your own device. I'd just hold off revealing that you have it unless it's absolutely necessary."

Dreylock took the square with no small amount of awe on her usually severe face. Then she looked frankly at Jack. "You didn't just come for Langara did you?"

"Earth came to help one its allies, "Jack answered, just as frankly, "I came for Jonas Quinn."

She nodded and looked resigned. "I thought as much. He was a member of your team and I well remember how devoted you were to your team. I wish I could tell you where he is, but the technical aspects of our satellite site were beyond me."

"I've got people working on that," Jack said.

"There is someone you should meet though," Dreylock said. She walked over to a box on an end table and paused, looking at Jack for permission. When he nodded, she pressed a button on the top of it and spoke, "Ashlen?"

A moment later a voice responded. "Yes, First Minister?"

"Can you join me in the private residence please?"

The voice sounded puzzled but said instantly, "Of course. I'll be right there."

Moments later a tall, slender woman with short brunette hair and brown eyes, wearing a utilitarian beige jumpsuit and sensible boots entered the room. She started to speak and cut off abruptly when she saw Jack and Cameron.

"Oh," she said in surprise, her eyes flying to Dreylock for an explanation.

"Ashlen, may I present General Jack O'Neill, the leader of Earth's SG-1 and Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell."

All the color left the young woman's face. "Did you find Jonas? Is he dead?"

It was the last thing Jack expected to hear and he was uncertain how to answer at first.

"Ashlen is my liaison with the Stargate program" Dreylock said, sparing him the effort of forming a reply. "She knows more about the satellite site than anyone left on Langara. She is also Jonas Quinn's wife."

Jack recovered pretty quickly, "Then it's nice to meet you. But we haven't even started looking for Jonas yet. That's what we came here to do."

"Then take me with you," she said, quickly.

"I'm not sure that's-"

"He's at the satellite site!" Ashlen said, daring to cut Jack off in mid-sentence. "The First Minister just told you that I know more about it than anyone else. He's my husband! You have to take me with you."

"Ashlen," Dreylock said, trying to sound reasonable. "What about Ainsley?"

"She's staying with my parents," Ashlen said, "It was only supposed to be for a few days but it can be longer if necessary. She's as safe there as anywhere on this Ori-cursed planet." She sounded bitter and furious.

"Who's Ainsley?" Cameron asked suspiciously.

"Our daughter," Ashlen answered, "Well my daughter but Jonas's too. It's complicated. You wouldn't understand."

Jack looked to the side and said, softly, "Oh, no. I think I get it."

"He's the only father she's ever known. He's my husband. If you're going after him you have to take me with you."

She was passionately insistent; not hysterical or wide-eyed, just jaw-set determined. There was a small part of Jack that realized distantly she was a very lovely woman.

Jack looked sideways at Dreylock. "Anyone likely to notice she's missing?"

"I can say she went to the country to be with her family," Dreylock answered, "I can tell them she's doing something classified for me, which is true in a way. They'll cover for her."

Jack looked at Mitchell and nodded so Cam went to stand next to her.

"You're gonna have to hold onto me and trust us for a minute or so. Okay?" He asked.

She nodded and slipped an arm through his, looking more stubborn and determined than ever. Jack turned once more to Dreylock, "For now, try to stay off the Ori radar as much as possible. When we're successful in dealing with them once and for all, I suspect you'll know."

He walked over and stood beside Mitchell. It was obvious their time on Kelowna was over.

"Thank you for this," the First Minister said. As they vanished in a dazzling display of light she added quietly, "Good luck."

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	5. Chapter 5

Jack, Cameron and Ashlen materialized on the Bridge of the ship to find Vala, Teal'c and Sam peering at a screen with a close up of a section of the Milky Way Galaxy.

"Oh, we can't go there," Vala was saying. Her hand was still hovering over the control for the Asgard beam but her eyes were fixed on the screen.

"Why not?" Jack demanded, drawing everyone's attention.

Cam was letting go of Ashlen as they turned to look. Teal'c straightened immediately, on alert. Sam stood up more slowly. Vala glanced and then looked back at the screen.

"Sir?" Sam said.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Ashlen, who is Mrs. Jonas Quinn."

Sam stared while trying not to. Teal'c 'rippled' slightly and then went still. Vala glanced again, paused and then swiveled her chair around to face all of them.

"Well that's interesting," Vala said.

"Jonas got married?" Sam said in a carefully neutral voice. She wasn't quite sure how to react to that news.

"A few months ago," Ashlen said, "when Kelowna started seriously evacuating through the Stargate. With things the way they were – the way they are – we didn't want to wait; and it was a Kelownan ceremony, not anything from the book of Origin."

"I can understand that," Sam said slowly. "We didn't know."

"Well you're kind of far away," Ashlen said, with a small smile, "and we've been kind of busy. This is so strange. Jonas talks about his time on Earth all the time. I feel like I already know some of you. Samantha Carter," she paused and nodded at Sam, "and you must be Teal'c." The Jaffa inclined his head politely. "I already met General O'Neill."

But Ashlen looked at Vala in confusion.

"Vala," she supplied, "Mal Doran."

"Ashlen Ralston-Quinn," she answered, "You and Colonel Mitchell must be recent additions to the team? I'm not sure Jonas has ever mentioned you."

"Just within the last year," Mitchell said, "and call me Cam. We never met your husband."

"And you're here to find him anyway?" Ashlen seemed honestly confused.

"We're a team," Cam shrugged.

"I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for this. Our government has written them off as lost. I think they were more upset over the national treasures and artwork that are at the satellite site than the people."

"The satellite site?" Vala said, pointing backwards at the display screen. "Is that what you call this planet?"

"Is that where we sent them?" Ashlen asked.

"It's the last and only address still in the DHD," Sam answered.

"Then yes that has to be our satellite site. Jonas and a group of evacuees were the last to go through before the Prior came and disabled the Gate. That was a few weeks ago. Jonas and I were working from both sides of the evacuation. He was taking people through and getting them settled. I was gathering groups on this end. I don't know if the Prior suspected we were doing it or not but he took two crystals from the DHD and we could never get it to work again. I don't know what's happening at that end," Ashlen looked at Vala with fear and concern in her eyes, "Why did you say we can't go there?"

"Good question," Jack said in a voice that was too soft and with a look that pinned Vala to the console.

"Well, it's the current location of two warring crime lords, one of whom who used to be First Prime to a minor System Lord named Dedun."

There were several moments of silence while all of SG-1 waited for Daniel to explain who that was until they all realized that Daniel wasn't with them. Vala rushed to try to fill in the gap, searching through her memories of the brief, brutal time with Qetesh.

"He fancied himself the god of wealth, greed, accumulation. Beyond that I don't remember that much."

Sam put her hand on Vala's shoulder and squeezed. Of all of them, only Sam really understood what it cost Vala to access that time in her life. Vala could feel Cam's eyes on her too and she resisted looking up because if she saw pity or sympathy in them she would want to kill him. But when she gave in and looked there was nothing but a kind of fierce pride and admiration gazing back at her.

"T?" Jack prodded. "What do you know about this First Prime?"

Teal'c came to life with a voice like boulders rolling together. "His name is Ar'loc. I had little dealing with him. Dedun was not interested in territories or going to war and he would not have challenged Apophis. Dedun sought wealth through stealing and plunder. His methods amounted to piracy and his Jaffa were well known for it. Ar'loc is one of the Jaffa who rejected the New Nation and set out on his own. No one has heard from him in many years."

Jack took in the information and then turned back to Vala. "And this other crime lord?"

"A man named Mraisch, loosely associated with the Lucian Alliance," Vala supplied. "The planet is apparently a source of precious jewels and a rare spice prized on several worlds. Mraisch and Ar'loc have mining operations all over the planet and they are quite ruthless about it. If the Langarans went there I suspect they've all been rounded up and taken into slavery by now. It's a place I avoided at all costs, despite my fondness for rare spices and shiny things."

There was another silence broken when Ashlen blurted, "Slavery? _ALL_ of them?"

Vala realized belatedly who was in the cockpit with her. "Well possibly not all. Were they well-armed?"

"Yes, we sent a fair part of the Kelownan Guard with them. It's not like we're expecting an attack from Tirania or the Andari Federation at the moment. The only good thing about the Ori is that they finally united Langara against a common enemy."

"That's good then," Vala said, with a bright smile.

"Ashlen," Jack said, and Teal'c and Sam recognized the calm, secure, authoritative tone in his voice that was meant to convey confidence. "What's in the immediate vicinity of the Stargate on this planet?"

"A city that seemed to have been abandoned for decades. We were working to make it into a livable place again. The planet appeared to be deserted. We had no idea these-these _crimelords_ were living there."

"Is it defensible?" Jack asked.

She lifted her shoulders in a hopeless kind of way. "I wouldn't know. I never saw it and it's not my area of expertise. I can tell you that if it's possible then the Kelownan Guard would do it."

"Well there's that then," Jack said, "They're probably holed up in the city with no way to dial back to Kelowna, or possibly even get to the Gate to dial anywhere at all. Carter, put together a message detailing all this and send it back to Stargate Command. Include the Gate address but tell them not to send anyone through until we get there and find out what's going on. If I need reinforcements, I'll let them know."

"Yes sir," Sam said,

"And tell them that includes Daniel!" Jack said, forcefully. "Don't let him through that Gate unless I specifically request him."

Sam nodded, remembering what Daniel had said about joining them if Jonas was anywhere but Langara. "We could get there faster if we find the closest planet with a Stargate and Gate there," she pointed out.

Jack shook his head, looking grim. "I don't want to give up the Al'Kesh. It's got weapons and a quick means of escape. If it takes a little longer to get there then that's just the way it is."

"Understood, sir," Sam was already turning to start composing the message.

Jack gave her a proud look and said, decisively, "Then I want everyone to get something to eat, drink, hit the head and get back here in thirty minutes. We've got a rescue to plan."

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	6. Chapter 6

They orbited the planet a few times, getting as much information from the readings as possible before Jack let Ashlen attempt to contact the planet. She failed to get a response at first and then when she finally did, it wasn't Jonas who answered. It was the Roan Vacik, commander of the Kelownan Guard.

"This is First Assistant Ashlen Quinn. Is anyone receiving this?"

"_First Assistant_?"

"Yes! I'm in orbit around the planet. Who is this?"

"_Commander Vacik. Who is with you_?"

"Our Earth allies, SG-1. Where is Jonas?"

There was a pause. "_Can you come down here_?"

Ashlen had the good sense to look at Jack and getting a nod before answering, "Yes. Stand by."

She shut off the communication and Jack said, "Saddle up, kids. We're going for a ride."

(0)

Leaving Mitchell (unhappy but dutifully following orders) on the Al-Kesh they beamed down to the location of the response from the planet. They appeared in a room that was high in a tower. It was now part of an elaborate command center. The modern equipment contrasted sharply with the ancient stone and fading murals of the tower's former life. SG-1 had arrived in a circle, back to back, weapons not pointed but drawn.

That changed a moment later when Vala put her Beretta up and pulled the safety off. As one unit, the rest of them moved to flank her, bringing their weapons to bear and pushing Ashlen to the back behind Teal'c. They were faced off with a man Jack presumed to be Roan Vacik, a silver-haired man with military bearing wearing both the uniform of the Kelownan guard and astunned, grim expression on his face.

There was another man seated behind a console. He was large, heavily-built and peering at them like a meat buyer at the pig market. It was immediately obvious to the rest of SG-1 that neither man seemed armed but Vala had her weapon pointed squarely at the seated man's forehead.

"Vala Mal Doran," he said, with his voice traveling the distance between them as if he wasn't even pushing the limit of his potential volume. "I wish I could say it was nice to see you again."

"Mraisch Bah Darrin," she said back in a lethal purr. Vala's demeanor was cool and steady and all of the team was matching her. "Still dealing in stolen spacecraft? Oh, no, wait, I heard Ar'loc ran you out of that business. It's weapons and drachnam spice these days for the Lucian Alliance. There can't be enough money in that to keep you in the style to which you had become accustomed."

Vala smirked a little at the flash of annoyance that crossed Mraisch's jowly features. Ar'loc and Mraisch had been locked in a bitter rivalry for some time now and it showed no sign of being resolved any time soon. "Put your hands on the table," she said.

"Why?" Mraisch returned blandly.

Jack spoke up "How about because, no matter what you have under the table, there are four weapons pointed at your head?"

With a sigh as if he was long-suffering, Mraisch lifted his hands and placed a small pistol on the table. He let go of it and raised his hands in a mocking surrender. No one on SG-1 lowered their weapons.

Commander Vacik finally spoke, quietly. "There isn't any need for this. I'll admit that we have a problem here but it's not one we can solve with this kind of aggression."

Impatiently Ashlen finally pushed her way passed Teal'c. "Vacik!" She said, sounding like she was stamping her foot, "What is going on here!?"

Vacik straightened up and nodded to her respectfully. "First Assistant, it is good to have you here; and we welcome SG-1. It is a great relief to see you all."

Jack lowered his Berretta but didn't put it away. The rest of SG-1 remained on alert.

"Are you in charge here?" Jack asked Vacik, because the presence of a crime lord in what was ostensibly the command center of this outpost was just a little disturbing.

"Yes," Vacik answered, "and you are?"

"General Jack O'Neill, in command of SG-1. You want to tell me what's going on here and where Jonas Quinn is. Oh, and why the hell this guy is here?"

The name meant something to Vacik. It was obvious in his eyes. He didn't quite shift or look away but it was obvious he wanted to. He opened his mouth but Mraisch was the one who answered. "I have Jonas Quinn," he said, bluntly.

Jack turned almost casually to look fully at Mraisch. Anyone who knew Jack would know that the posture and the laconic look were masking something truly dangerous. Sam, Vala and Teal'c flanked him with weapons still level with their faces.

"Well," Jack said, much too softly, "How about if you give him back?"

"It's complicated," Vacik said.

Jack studied him for a moment and then safed his weapon and put it back in its holster. Hooking a foot around the leg of a chair in front of the desk, he pulled it around and dropped down in it heavily. Setting his elbows on the arms of the chair and linking his fingers together he said, "Explain it to me."

Behind him, SG-1 hadn't moved an inch from their defensive position. Ashlen, still impatient but too intimidated by O'Neill to say anything, stood quietly and looked pleadingly at Vacik. She had gone pale at Mraisch's pronouncement of having Jonas.

Vacik began, "When the Bah Darrin Consortium-" and cut off for a moment at Vala's loud and derisive snort. Jack cast her a look over his shoulder and she subsided.

Mraisch murmured appreciatively, "Very good. Perfectly in command, both of yourself and of your people. Yes, that's good indeed."

"As I was saying," Vacik said, tightly. "When the Consortium first became aware of us, there were several attacks that ended in stalemates. Jonas Quinn decided to go talk to them and explain our situation and warn them of the Ori. Our attempts to dissuade him from going failed."

"Oh, Jonas," Ashlen sighed.

Jack exchanged a look with Sam and Teal'c and then went back to staring to Mraisch.

"So you decided to just keep Jonas Quinn," Jack concluded. "Why?"

"My daughter Sancha has been captured by Ar'loc. I want her rescued," Mraisch said, bluntly.

"I told him our military wasn't up for sale," Vacik said, stubbornly.

"What?" Ashlen snapped.

"Has Ar'loc asked for any kind of ransom?" Jack asked, calmly.

"I said she has been captured, not kidnapped," Mraisch said, contemptuously, "Do try to pay attention. Sancha was flying here for a visit when she – and the Fortune 3000 luxury space yacht she was flying – was captured by pirate gang and both were sold to Ar'loc." He stopped and looked at Vala pointedly, "I presume you're familiar with Ar'loc's distain for human females?"

"I've heard something about it mentioned a time or two," Vala conceded, wrinkling her nose.

Jack glanced up at Teal'c for confirmation. "Dedun's minions were well known for taking human female slaves."

"Then you understand why I want Sancha and her ship out of his hands. If Ar'loc figures out who he has there _will_ be ransom demands. He'll bleed me dry and then kill her anyway – probably by working her to death in his spice mine." He swept Vala and Sam with a speculative look, "He'd accept a gift such as these two-"

"Wait just a _damned_ minute," Jack said, "if you think-"

"Do you want Jonas Quinn back or not?" Mraisch said. Jack glowered at him but Mraisch went on blithely. "Send the men and he'll probably kill them outright – especially the Jaffa. Oh, yes, I recognize you too, Teal'c of Chulak. Ar'loc would have a grand time making you suffer before you die. But the women will wind up at exactly the same place as Sancha. Mal Doran has a reputation that precedes her. I have to assume the other woman with you is as good."

"And if I understand this correctly, if we get your daughter back you'll give us Jonas?" Jack's voice was low and tight.

"You're a smart man, General O'Neill, with a precise grasp of the situation."

"Is there some reason I don't just hold you here until we get Jonas back?"

Vacik cleared his throat uncomfortably. He picked up a folder on the desk and handed it to Jack. Inside were pictures of Jonas, unconscious, on a slab in a round room. Ashlen let out a gasp of horror and looked pleadingly at Jack.

"Jonas Quinn is being held in a tower room in my personal fortress," Mraisch told them, blandly. "There are automatic weapons pointed at him at all times. All I have to do is give a signal and he'll be dead in an instant."

"_General_," Ashlen said, miserably.

Jack fell grimly silent. He stood up. "Carter! Vala!" He said, "Private conversation please?"

He gave the rest of the team a look that said keep him covered and took them off to a corner of the room.

"Do you know this Sancha?" He asked Vala in a soft voice, without preamble.

"Yes. She's not involved with her father's criminal activity if that's what you're asking. She broke ties with him a long time ago and now runs and owns a business making spaceships on another planet in this system. The Fortune 3000 line is one of the best."

"There's a market for luxury space yachts?" Sam asked, stunned.

"Darling, there's an entire galaxy out here you haven't even begun to explore," Vala drawled. "There are a lot more planets than the ones connected by Stargates."

"So you think this is legit?" Jack asked.

Vala sighed, "I hate to say this but yes, his concern for her appears real."

"Carter?" Jack asked. It was the only thing he said. Sam knew what all the questions were.

"I'm willing to go in, sir" she said, "I've had all this great training from this guy in Special Forces that I know. So I'm pretty sure I can handle it; and if Vala will go in with me she brings her own special brand of expertise."

Jack turned his attention to Vala. "I can't order you to go in. You didn't even know Jonas. No one will blame you if you refuse."

"If Samantha goes in, I go with her. There's no question," Vala answered.

Jack's eyebrows were drawn together, making him look displeased. Sam knew he was forcing down frustration and anger at being manipulated like this.

"Sir," she said, softly, "We can't let him kill Jonas."

"He still might," Jack warned.

"Then we can only let it play out. Something tells me the rest of you aren't going to sit around idle while Vala and I get Sancha."

"Nope," Jack said.

He turned and went back to stand in front of the desk.

"We'll do this," Jack said, tightly, "_our_ way. But you had better be ready to hand over Jonas Quinn. If you recognize Teal'c and Vala then you also recognize SG-1; and SG-1 is _not_ an enemy you want to have."

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	7. Chapter 7

Sam and Vala made their way down winding streets in one of the most derelict cities Sam had ever seen. She knew there were places on Earth that were bad. But this was breathtaking in its level of decay. The stench was overwhelming, rising in the heat from garbage and debris piled high in doorways and alleyways. The occupants of the city were a hopeless looking, shapeless mass of broken humanity, shuffling aimlessly along or sitting listlessly on doorsteps.

Sam and Vala were moving purposefully towards a blocky fortress rising imposingly at the edge of the slum. Sam wondered how much of the poverty and abuse surrounding them was a direct result of Ar'Loc's presence here.

They passed one final huddled clump of beings to get to a side door in the fortress that they had been told to go to. It was guarded by a pair of Jaffa still in the heavy armor of Dedun's army, lacking only the heavy headdress but still wearing the stylistic lion tattoos on their foreheads. They were armed with zats, which Sam recognized. Hanging from their belts was a long curled whip with an electronic handle. Vala eyed the whip with barely controlled contempt and shot Sam a warning look.

Then the look melted out of her eyes and she affected an expression of vapid cheerfulness that did absolutely nothing to hide her natural sexiness. Sam had watched Vala change colors like a chameleon before but this time it was almost devastating. Sam would have sworn she'd never met this woman at all.

"Hi there," she waved and smiled. "I have a gift for his Majestic Eminence the First Prime Ar'Loc from his brother Jaffa, Maf'ra of Drachnom."

Two sets of leering eyes swept the women. "Oh I just bet you do," one of the guards said.

"It's some kind of expensive art carving," Vala said, bringing the small package out from the inside of her sleeve.

"Fine," the other guard said, "Wait here."

Vala and Sam waited, looking and acting nervous and uncertain while one of the guards took out a lethal serrated knife and split open the box and then the fluffy packing material until he got to the marble statue inside. He examined it carefully for hidden compartments and ran a scanner over it looking for any kind of electronic signal.

Sam whispered cautiously to Vala, "What are those whips?"

"They're called neron whips. You might want to avoid anything that would make them use those," Vala whispered back.

"Are they survivable?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Vala answered, sounding grim, "You'll just wish they weren't."

Sam swallowed a little.

"All right," the guard said, handing the open box and the statue back to Vala, "In you go."

Vala looked as if she had attempted a step backwards. "C-Can't we just leave it with you?"

"Oh, no, it's a rule. All gifts are to be hand delivered by the bearer, especially when the bearers look like the two of you."

The door swung open at some unseen signal and two more guards waited inside.

"Take them to Ar'Loc."

Sam and Vala stepped inside the fortress, between two more massive Jaffa. The door snapped closed with a decisive bang, shutting out the sunlight and plunging them into almost complete darkness.

The inside of the fortress matched its dull and forbidding exterior. The interior was dark and dank and composed of twisting, rough-floored corridors lit by flickering torches. Sam didn't bother trying to keep track of the route as their two-guard escort took them deeper into the fortress. She doubted Vala was bothering with it either. Instead, they were both concentrating on assessing the overall defense structure and increasing the level of fear showing in their body language.

They reached the main audience chamber at last, to find a large, high-ceilinged room dominated by gloom, stench and general repulsiveness. Ar'loc was seated on a throne and a raised dais, surrounded by other Jaffa and women who appeared to be serving as slaves. He was huge, dark-haired and bronze skinned.

"So what have we here?" He asked, "A gift from Maf'ra?"

"Yes, You Magnificent Eminence," Vala answered, with a quaver in her hushed voice as she glanced around nervously.

Sam was doing the same thing, but they were evaluating the defensive capabilities of the room. There was ports in the walls that were most likely weapons, and a handful of guards. That appeared to be it.

"Bring it here, both of you."

Sam and Vala both stepped forward hesitantly. At some point they both knew there was going to be some kind of test to see if they were really the helpless slaves they appeared to be. It came when they had only taken three steps. Two guards unleashed their whips and with casual flicks of their wrist sent them snaking towards Sam and Vala.

Sam gasped and held up her hands uselessly in front of her face – fighting the instinctive urge to dodge or duck or roll or do _anything_ to stop the weapon from touching her. To her great relief the whip cracked centimeters short of her face. A sizzle of energy bit the air between them.

"Your Eminence!" Vala cried, "Please what have we-"

The answer came from the guards in the form of another flick of their wrists. This time the whips connected.

The lash curled around Sam's legs and yanked her off her feet. She went down screaming in a way that was not at all role-playing. The whip's current arced agonizingly through her body. She clawed at it, screaming again as it burned her fingertips. She started to shout _Stop_ and changed it to, "No, please. _Please."_

Beside her Vala was sobbing and begging.

"Defend yourself!" One of the guards laughed, tossing a pistol onto the floor beside her.

Sam got it and fought against the pain, forcing her fingers to fumble as if she had never held a weapon in her life. She clenched her teeth and fought her own training. The pistol was probably useless, just another prop in Ar'loc's sadistic trap; but if she swiveled on one hip and swung her legs around hard enough she would pop the whip's control shaft out of her attacker's hand.

But if she did that – if she showed any sign of combat training at all – she would probably die.

She got a grip on the pistol and tried to bring it to bear on her assailant, shaking uncontrollably and sobbing like a child. She sagged and let the weapon drop from her fingers. Then she toppled over as if she had fainted.

Mercifully the current shut off. Trying not to pant she heard the current in the other whip shut off and Vala crashed to the floor beside her. She could hear Vala panting and risked glancing at her.

Through gritted teeth Vala hissed at her, "_Stay down."_

"_Why?" _Sam barely opened her teeth to speak.

"_You look like you want to murder someone,"_ Vala warned.

"_I do," _Sam growled.

"_Don't come up until you don't!"_

From above them, conversationally, Ar'loc said, "That was a lesson. Now that you know the whip's power, I safely assume you don't want to experience it again."

Vala pushed up on her elbow. "No!" She gasped, "No! Please no. We'll do anything. Just don't…don't-" The words came out mangled, barely recognizable in her sobs.

Rough hands reached down and untangled the whips from around the women's legs. Vala got a hand around Sam's arm and they struggled to their feet, swaying together for a moment. There was another brief flare of warning in Vala's eyes and Sam remembered in time to look frightened out of her mind instead of spitting mad. They both took a moment to make sure their legs were really working and then let them buckle so that they collapsed again to the floor.

Guards seized them both and hauled them up. Wobbling and trembling, Vala and Sam stood, staring at the floor and holding hands.

"You both belong to me now," Ar'loc's voice boomed, imperiously. ""Your lives are mine. If you please me you will survive. If you don't please me then there will be neron whips on full charge wrapped around you for the remainder of your short and miserable existence. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, sir," Vala whimpered. When Sam didn't answer, Vala dug her fingernails into Sam's palm.

Sam bit back a gasp of surprise, turned it into a sob and looked at the floor with her shoulders hunched in the helpless display of a beaten animal.

"Good." He waved a hand at the guards, "Take them to the slave master," he said, dismissively, "Tell him to do with them whatever he wants."

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	8. Chapter 8

The spice mine was in the lowest level of the fortress. It was a cave system in which the women worked beneath grated metal walkways patrolled by guards carrying neron whips. The spice came from the fruiting of an underground fungus that grew all along the walls like ugly bulbous tumors. There were perhaps fifty women wearing headlamps, working side by side harvesting the fruit. Torches provided the only other light. In that dim light Vala and Sam could see the blank, hopeless expressions on the faces of the women.

"I'll explain this only once," the slave master said. "Your job is to carefully pry loose the fruit from the fungus and place it inside the baskets on the wall. Do not drop any of them or harvest them before they are ripe. The fungus takes a very long time to come to fruition and we just _hate _wasting any of them." He pointed at both of them with the handle of his whip. "Understood?"

Vala swallowed and forced herself to shrink back from him. "Y-yes," she whispered.

"How do we know if they are ripe?" Sam asked.

"They go from having a smooth surface to one that is rough. Get one of the other slaves to show you," he leered pointedly at Sam, "Your hair is an unusual shade. Would you consider trading it to me?"

Sam's eyes grew wider. "S-selling it? For what?"

"Favors," the slave master shrugged. "Extra food, water. Other considerations."

Sam didn't have to fake the shudder that went through her at the thought of her hair in that man's hands. It was utterly abhorrent. In what she hoped was a timid voice with her eyes downcast to hide the revulsion, she said, "C-can I think about it?"

He smirked at her and she knew he could probably just take it if he wanted to. Clearly this was just another sadistic game. "If you wish. But don't take too long. It's not like hair does you much good in here." He stated to turn away and then said, "Oh, and one more thing. The fruit attracts a particularly nasty insect that doesn't take kindly to having its meal taken away. If they get their mouth palps into your skin you'll need a trip to the med bay to get them removed."

"Oh," Vala said, in a very tiny voice. Sam knew what she was thinking. That was actually very useful information. "Does it hurt?"

"No more than the whips," the slave master answered, with a slow evil smile. Then without warning he pushed both Sam and Vala off the walkway. Sam managed to keep her balance and land in a crouch on her feet, remembering at the last minute to fall over sideways. Vala, either by accident or design, landed on her side. Sam crawled over to her and helped her to stand up. They stood swaying as if they were injured.

"You don't play the helpless female easily do you?" Vala observed softly.

"Not at all," Sam admitted.

"Try harder," Vala said, through gritted teeth. "Men like these, if they see a flash of your steel backbone, they'll spend a lot of time and effort trying to break you; and I don't think you'll break easily, Samantha."

A neron whip cracked over their heads in warning. Sam and Vala both flinched away from it. Two helmets were tossed down to them. As they flipped on the lights and snapped on the helmets, Sam said, "I'll take that side. You take this one. Stay close and let's find Sancha and get the hell out of here."

"Sounds like a plan," Vala agreed.

The whip lashed again, closer this time. Jaw clenched with determination, Sam turned, faced the vile looking wall and got to work.

(0)

After hours of nauseating, back breaking work, Sam finally slipped up beside someone who looked shockingly like the pictures Mraisch had shown them.

"Are you Sancha?" She asked, softly.

The other woman looked up at her, suspicion evident in her eyes. "Yes. Why?"

Sam glanced around cautiously but none of the guards seemed interested in their conversation. She risked glancing over her shoulder and hissing sharply, "Vala!"

Vala sidled over to them and Sam said, "This is Sancha."

"Ah," Vala said, "Finally. A close relative of yours sent us to get you out of here."

If they had expected some kind of surprise or joy they were disappointed. "Did he really?" Sancha said, with dark scorn. "How very nice of him."

Sam and Vala exchanged a look. "You don't seem pleased," Vala observed.

"Oh I'm overjoyed," Sancha drawled. "It's just somewhat tempered by my familiarity with my father. What are the two of you? Mercenaries."

Knowing Sam was about to protest, Vala said, "Something like that."

"Oh then let me guess, he told you how important I am to him and how he had to get me back and then he turned up the heat and either bribed, threatened or manipulated you into doing this."

"Close enough," Sam admitted.

"So even though he seemed to want his dearest daughter back he made it very clear that he wants the ship I was flying back too? Am I right?"

Vala nodded. Mraisch had made sure they had all the access codes and flight instructions – not that Vala would need those – in case Sancha was incapacitated and they had to fly it out.

"What is he paying you?" Sancha asked, conversationally. She filled a bucket on the wall and began raising it to the walkway.

"Your father has one of our colleagues. He's agreed to give him back in exchange for you," Sam answered.

Sancha snorted. "So now he's a kidnapper too. It's nice to know there isn't a level too low for him. I wouldn't count on getting your friend back that easily."

"We actually aren't," Vala said, blithely, "But that doesn't mean we won't get you out of here. Unless you aren't interested in coming with us. In which case, Samantha and I will just get out your way and be on ours."

Sancha yanked a fruit out of the middle of the pulpy fungus and said, "If it's all the same to you, I'll tag along. What did you have in mind?"

"Where will they take us from here?" Sam asked.

"To a pretty disgusting communal barracks. There are mats on the floor and they'll feed us, if you can call that slop food. They let us wash up, such as it is and then we eat and then lights out."

For the first time, both women noticed a glimmer of hope in Sancha's voice.

"Surveillance?" Sam asked.

"Some obvious cameras; probably some non-obvious ones too. Not sure why. There's nowhere to go."

"How long until the shift ends?" Vala asked.

"Not long, less than an hour," Sancha answered.

Vala and Sam exchanged another look. "Good," Vala said, "We've got a couple of things to do first and then we'll catch up with you in the barracks. Do what you normally do. Don't attract suspicion."

Sam and Vala moved off, tackling a section of the wall that was untended by the other women.

"What'd you have in mind now?" Sam whispered.

"Follow my lead," Vala answered.

Vala watched the walkway above them carefully and waited until one of the guards were close, glancing up to eye the whip he was casually flicking in the air. She let him get very close and she could feel Sam growing tense beside her, waiting. At the last second before the guard was above them, Vala yanked her hand back from the wall and let out a spine-curdling scream.

"Oh god _oh god_! It _bit_ me," she shrieked piteously, "Help me! Get it out! Get it out!"

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	9. Chapter 9

Sam rushed to Vala's side and knelt down as the other women around them fled in different directions.

"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed anxiously.

"Getting us into the med bay," Vala answered.

Without any further explanation, Vala grabbed Sam's hand, and jabbed the point of a tiny knife into her ring finger twice. Sam let out a shriek that was more outrage than pain and then she found out how strong Vala really was when she tried to pull her hand back.

"Hold still and keep screaming," Vala instructed. They could hear the heavy boot steps of a guard running down metal stairs and coming in their direction. "Don't worry. It's dead."

"_What's_ dead?" Sam demanded and then it all became clear as Vala jammed the pincers of a very disgusting insect into the holes she had made in Sam's finger. Sam let out another holler of fury.

"Can you _please_ try to sound frightened!" Vala begged.

The guard was getting closer, boots ringing on the damp floor in agitation. Sam collapsed on the floor next to Vala, putting pressure on her bleeding finger and fighting the urge to yank the vile looking bug out. Even if it was dead and not pumping venom into her, it was gross. But she didn't know what the effect of pulling out the pincers would be so she left it there.

"You could have warned me," Sam complained.

"You're a horrible actress, darling," Vala answered. She stopped talking and began moaning and crying, rolling on the floor as if she was in terrible pain. It was then that Sam saw an identical wound with an identical bug attached to the inside of Vala's left arm.

Sam gave up arguing lest they be overheard and – mindful of Vala's warning about how hard these men would work to break her - made do with hunching over on the floor breathing hard and biting her lip.

The guard reached them, seized a wrist in each one of his huge hands and hauled them to their feet. Vala was still carrying on as if she was trying for a best dramatic actor award. Sam gasped – mostly from the stench coming off the guard – and tried to pretend she was passing out. The guard caught her under the arm and pulled her forward, a movement that pushed her up against the knife on his belt. It would be so easy to grab it and plunge it into the gap just below the edge of his upper body armor. Sam's fingers itched as she resisted the instinct.

"Get your hand out of the way!" He snapped at Vala, twisting her arm around to see the wound on it with the insect body hanging from it. As Vala cried out again from the rough treatment, he swore in the language Sam recognized as Goa'uld.

The grip on Sam's wrist tightened to the point of pain as he jerked her hand around, pulling her even closer. The hilt of his knife brushed against Sam's other hand. Sam glanced away and into Vala's warning look.

"Useless fledglings," the guard growled.

He let go of them so suddenly they both stumbled and Sam nearly fell. They were shoved in the direction of the stairs and then prodded all the way back up to the walkway. They were then shoved into the ungentle arms of one of the other guards. Neither man appeared to be anything but annoyed by the situation. Apparently it happened often enough not to raise suspicion.

"Get them to the med bay," he snarled, "and tell Cian to be careful this time. Ar'loc isn't going to like it if he loses two more on their first shift. Not after last time."

Sam and Vala were dragged unceremoniously out a door and into another dingy corridor. Vala continued to moan and sob like a broken slave. Sam continued to act like she was barely conscious, keeping her head down and her eyes half closed. She suspected that Vala's overly dramatic act was to keep the focus off of Sam, for which she was grateful.

After the darkness everywhere else, the med bay was so clean and brightly lit that it hurt their eyes. Apparently it was tough to keep healthy slaves down in the spice mine. The guard pushed them inside and then slammed the door. The medic – presumably Cian - was also a surprise. He was a tired looking middle-aged human in a shabby lab coat.

"Up on the table, one of you," he said, with a listless gesture in the direction of the sole piece of furniture in the room.

Vala leaned over and whispered to Sam, "Keep his attention."

Sam gave a barely discernable nod and staggered to the table, pulling herself up on it with shaking arms. The medic took Sam's hand in his with surprising gentleness. He examined it carefully and then said, "The hajsu appears to be dead. That's odd."

"Maybe I killed it when I was trying to get it off?" Sam asked, timidly. She looked up at him through her lashes. She might not know how to be a helpless female but she knew how to flirt.

"Hmmm," he said, "Maybe. It would explain why the puncture wounds are so large. Did you shake your hand?"

"I think so," Sam said, "Was that bad?"

"It isn't good," the man sighed.

He walked over to the counter of vials and bottles and boxes where Vala was leaning over pathetically, whimpering, "It hurts. It hurts."

Cian patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Yes I know. It's not an easy life down there."

"Why are you here?" Sam asked, drawing his attention back.

Cian came back to the table and began swabbing her finger with a numbing solution. A moment later he had used tweezers to pull the bug away. Sam couldn't stop the sigh of relief or the grateful smile. Cian stared for a moment before answering her question. Sam had seen that 'stop and stare' reaction before. She ducked her head and smiled again shyly.

"I was captured years ago," he said, "They let me live when they found out I had medical training. I've been here ever since." He paused to shrug, "It isn't a bad life. It's better than what they do to the women and a million times better than what they usually do to the men."

When he started to glance over at Vala again Sam cried out as if she was in pain and clutched his hand.

"I'm sorry!" He said, quickly, and Sam saw the measure of compassion and puzzlement in his expression. "There shouldn't be any more pain."

"It's all right," she whispered, "I'm sure you didn't mean it."

"Are you ever going to help _me_?" Vala whined.

Cian started as if he had just remembered Vala was in the room, in spite of her continuous moaning.

"Yes, come here," he said. Sam let him help her hop down from the table and waited quietly while he worked on Vala's wound. Vala didn't even try to flirt with him. She simply stayed in character as piteously broken, whining and complaining through the entire procedure.

When he was done he banged on the door. It slid open to reveal the guard.

"They're both fine. No permanent damage," he said.

"Then let's go, fledglings," the guard sneered, "Nice work getting out of the end of your shift! We'll have to make you work double tomorrow."

Sam and Vala shared a look as they were prodded back down the corridor with the hilt of a neron whip. They hated to disappoint the guy, but they really had no plans to even be here tomorrow.

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	10. Chapter 10

The massive sleeping/eating/bathing communal room was just a revolting as Sam and Vala had expected. There were tubs along one wall that were filled with what looked more like a runny version of slime than water. Sam and Vala chose to pass on those. They joined the crush of women crowding the food line and, under the cover of the bodies pressing them close to each other, Vala carefully revealed the stash of vials and bottles in the pockets of her jumpsuit.

Sam gave a startled look of wonder. "How did you do that and what are they?" She whispered. The labels on the bottles were all in Goa'uld.

"Some useful chemicals that will make some really interesting things happen when combined. It's amazing what people will just leave sitting out on a counter," Vala said, blandly. "As to how I got them… Really?"

Sam shook her head ruefully. Vala was filling a squeeze bottle from one of the vials when Sancha came up from behind them.

"I didn't think you were really coming back," she admitted.

"We're used to being underestimated," Sam replied, shuffling down the line and shielding Vala with her body as Vala filled a second bottle, mixing contents like a mad scientist. She couldn't read Goa'uld but she recognized certain chemical smells and had gotten an idea what Vala had in mind. To Sancha she said, "Were you brought straight here from your ship?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember the route?"

"Yes."

"Tell us."

They filled bowls with a dark brown mush and moved off to sit at the far end of a nearly deserted table. Sancha eyed them suspiciously again and Sam sighed. "We're not here for your ship, no matter if that was your father's true purpose or not. It's our way out of here and if you get knocked out we'd really rather not be lugging you along _and_ trying to figure out where we're going. Besides, there's always the possibility that _you_ will chose to leave us behind."

Sancha glared at her but Vala purred casually, "After all, it's possible. Like father, like daughter?"

Sancha hesitated a moment longer and then said, "Fine! You go out that door in the far left corner…."

When she was finished, Sam made her tell them again, just to make sure the details were all the same. The route wasn't complicated fortunately. She looked at Vala to make sure that the other woman had committed all that to memory. When Vala nodded her understanding as she filled a third bottle from two separate containers, Sam didn't make Sancha repeat it again.

"Make your way to the door and wait for what happens," Vala said, standing up. She gave Sam one of the squeeze bottles. "Use this like pepper spray if someone tries to stop you."

Sam and Vala both had small loaded P232 pistols hidden inside their jumpsuits. Along with the pistols they each had a series of lethal knives hidden in various places, one of which Vala had already used to fake their insect bites. It had been a risk but it had paid off. No one had thought to frisk two helpless and pathetic slaves. But they didn't want to reveal any of those weapons until absolutely needed.

Sam guided Sancha to the far left door as Vala made her way to the bathtubs. With a long smooth movement of her hand, Vala poured the contents of the last bottle she had filled into the water and then stepped away as quickly as she could without attracting suspicion.

Moments later the tub began to sizzle and smoke. The women who had been reduced to a state of near catatonia by their living conditions woke up enough to react to this new and inexplicable danger. They began screaming and stumbling away, milling around in utter confusion.

It only got worse when the entire tub burst into flame. Warning alarms blared. The smoke billowed up and engulfed the room, making it almost impossible to see. There were more screams and shouts, thudding footsteps and colliding bodies as the women panicked. Keeping her wits and staying low under the smoke, Vala went straight to the door to join Sam and Sancha.

"Let's go," she urged.

"What did you do!" Sancha cried.

An overhead sprinkler system came on just as they were ducking into the bleak hall.

"A little chemical reaction," Vala said. "It shouldn't do any real damage."

Coming to see what the pandemonium was all about, two guards were racing down the hall towards them.

"Where do you think you-" One of them began

He never got any further. Sam sprinted forward, sprayed one of them in the face and then kicked him solidly in the jaw when he went over howling in pain and clawing his eyes. Behind her she could hear Vala's attacker screaming and swearing viciously. Sam's kick sent her assailant staggering backwards. Before he could recover at all, Sam launched off the ground, drove both feet into his chest and slammed him into the stone wall. He went down like a sack of rocks and stayed down.

Sam turned to see if Vala needed any help. But she was too late. Vala was already kneeling over the second guard with and pulling his own knife out of his ribs. She wiped it on the guard's pants, took the whip off his belt and then stood up. She met Sam's eyes grimly and then looked pointedly at the knife and whip still on the other guard's belt. Sam pulled them both off, added them to her own pockets and said, "Let's keep moving."

Sam and Sancha started to run and then realized Vala wasn't with them.

"Vala!" Sam shouted.

"Just a second," Vala said. "Keep running! I'll catch up."

Sam remembered the chemical smells she had detected and nodded, hurrying Sancha ahead of her urgently. "Move!" She said. "Move."

Vala took two of the vials and poured them together into one. One she dropped to the ground, discarded. She gave the other a rapid shake and then threw it as far back down the hall as she could.

The explosion that came a moment later briefly knocked them sideways, caused them to stagger and grab each other before regaining their feet. Behind them they could hear the avalanche of walls and ceiling collapsing.

They headed at a dead run down the corridor until they came to an intersection. Another pair of guards was coming towards them, who stood gaping in astonishment for a moment before fumbling for their whips. Before they could get them in position Vala's whip crackled to life, snaked out and caught them both around their necks. They bellowed even louder than the previous pair as they fell into a flailing tangle of arms and legs, clawing at the whips. Vala plucked a replacement whip from one of them and stood up.

Sam was staring at her with raised eyebrows. "Qetesh liked whips," Vala explained with a shrug.

They could hear what sounded like pursuit, so Sam urged them forward again. Taking the lead, Sancha said, "This way. It's just up here, then turn right, up the stairs and out the first door. Unless they cracked the codes and moved it, the ship should still be there."

They ran, taking stairs two at a time and burst through the door onto a rooftop landing pad. There were several dozen ships there but Sam, eyes struggling to adjust to the fading daylight, recognized the space yacht from pictures.

"Wait," Vala said. She turned and tossed the last of the bottles down the stairs. They were shutting the door just as the muffled boom sounded below them.

The massive forms of many guards were running towards them.

"Get down!" She shouted, pushing Sancha behind a stack of boxes.

Whips snaked towards them, but no weapons fire. The boxes hissed and sizzled where they were touched by the expended current being flung outwards by the whips. Sam sat down, pulled up her pant leg and pulled out her P232 out of her boot. It wasn't the kind of weapon that would knock a full grown man off his feet, so it was going to have to be single head shots at moving targets.

Shouldn't be a problem.

She stood up in a single smooth motion and began firing, littering the ground in front of her with bodies of oncoming guards. Righteous fury filled her with a kind of icy, deadly calm. Retribution for the degraded women in the mine below, for the piracy and murder and the cold hearted treatment she and Vala had been given and the danger they'd all had to face steadied her already rock-steady aim.

When she stopped firing there was no one left breathing but Sam, Sancha and Vala. From behind another stack of crates Vala said, breathlessly, "Remind me never to piss you off."

Sam pulled Sancha to her feet and they made a straight, running line for the yacht. Sancha keyed the access codes and they followed her to the cockpit. She took a seat at the console and Sam dropped into another one. Vala stood behind them, peering out the forward viewer.

Sancha was firing up the ships systems as Sam asked, "So what's so special about this ship?"

"Are you kidding? What planet are you from? This is the prototype model Fortune 3000 luxury space yacht. It's about three times past state-of-the-art. It's got a flight system that can outfly just about anything else on the market, every luxury known to exist, ultra energized shielding and a crazy, unbelievable weapons system and targeting array-"

"Weapons system?" Sam interrupted. She was staring in frustration at the undecipherable console in front of her.

Sancha stopped flipping switches long enough to indicate a panel of keys in front of Sam. "Here," she said.

The ship's engines were beginning to whine.

"Here comes the reinforcements," Vala noted grimly.

A group of guards was pouring out the door and heading in their direction.

"Hold the ship steady," Sam said. "There might be kickback."

Sancha shook her head. "Not from this ship."

Experimentally Sam pressed a few of the keys on the pad. The Fortune 3000 spat red bolts of energy from ports on both sides. The bolts pounded into the wall of the Fortress on either side of the door and the whole thing came down in a thunder of falling stone and mortar.

Sam paused and watched the damage until the last bit of dust and debris began to settle. "Cool," she said.

The guards who were not crushed instantly staggered forward, rallied and began coming towards them again.

"They're nothing if not persistent," Vala observed.

Sam made a sound of grim agreement as she played once again with the keys on the console.

"Are the shields up?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Sancha answered.

"Good," Sam replied.

The ship was lifting off the ground as its weapons fired again. This time Sam targeted a nearby attack fighter ship. It exploded in a violent yellow fireball.

"Take us around," Sam ordered, in that voice she knew would be obeyed without question. "I think I've got the hang of the weapons."

The luxury yacht made a slow graceful circle, hovering just off the ground and spitting red destruction at the surrounding ships, turning Ar'loc's potential pursuit craft into smoking, melted slag.

When every ship was destroyed, Sancha fired thrusters and took the ship up in a steep ascent that pushed Sam back in her seat and had Vala clinging to their chairs.

Leaning over Vala whispered to Sam, "You enjoyed that."

Sam glanced up at her and answered, "You have no idea how much."

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	11. Chapter 11

Once they were in an orbit geosynchronous with the Kelownan settlement, Sancha put the Fortune 3000 on autopilot and Sam remotely beamed them all back to the Al'Kesh. The ship was deserted but Sam and Vala knew where the men had gone.

Sam hit the communications station and radioed Jack.

"General O'Neill, this is Lt. Colonel Carter. Over."

"_Go ahead, Carter. Over,"_ Jack's voice came back.

"Mission accomplished, sir. We're all back on board the Al'Kesh. Over"

"_Bravo Zulu, Colonel. Over"_

Sam smiled a little. "AFI, sir. Over"

"_Requesting air support on our signal. Over."_

"Roger that. The other team? Over."

In typical understated fashion Jack said, "_Is in position and on the move. Stand by to give them air support if needed. Over."_

"Roger that. Good luck. Carter out."

"_O'Neill out_."

Sam shut down the comm and let out a long relieved sigh. They didn't have Jonas yet but everything was in motion and step one was already accomplished.

Sancha spoke up. "This boat have anything that looks like food and running water?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes it does," Vala said, cheerfully. "Previous to seeing the slop you've been eating I would have hesitated to call what we have food. But I suppose it will seem like a banquet now."

"Hot water first?" Sancha asked.

Sam wrinkled her nose and nodded. "Yeah. I think we should. But someone has to stay on the comm. Vala, you and Sancha go, and then I'll go when you get back."

Playfully, Vala said, "Roger that. What does AFI mean anyway?"

"Awaiting further instructions," Sam explained.

"Couldn't you just, you know, _sa_y that?"

"Vala," Sam said, warningly.

"Oh fine," Vala sighed, knowing she wouldn't get a straight answer.

As they left Sam said loudly, "You really should learn all the lingo, you know."

Vala's polite laughter drifting back down the hall was Sam's only answer.

(0)

For the second time Jack signed off on a radio communication. This time he had spoken to the SGC team sent as back up and confirmed that their mission had also been successful. He nodded at Teal'c and Mitchell.

"They've secured the target. The defenses around Jonas should be down."

Mitchell was peering over the edge of the grass sand dune they had been using as cover.

"Is it just me or does that place look like Jabba the Hutt's palace? Sir?"

When Jack gave him a blank look, Teal'c said, "_Star Wars. Return of the Jed_i." He swiveled his head to Cameron and explained, "O'Neill has only seen the first one."

"_Phantom Menace_?" Cam asked. "Oh no, you mean S_tar Wars: A New Hope_. Really? Sir!"

"Yes, Mitchell, really," Jack said, drily. He looked around, assessing their location for the fifth time since arriving. They had discussed a dozen different means of entering the palace but now that they had air support from the Al'Kesh, things had changed, "It'd make a nice summer home," he observed, "Great ocean view. No neighbors. Great sunsets. Any ideas on how we get in? Without using the Force, I mean."

"How about we just knock, sir?" Mitchell asked. "It's only polite and if the defenses around Quinn aren't a factor anymore, we can just shoot our way inside."

"Shooting our way inside does not sound polite, Cameron Mitchell," Teal'c observed.

"No, that's what I was thinking, too, T," O'Neill said. He spun a finger around in the air to clarify, "The knocking on the door thing, not that it isn't polite. But let's not knock if we don't have to."

Jack got the radio back out and said, "Carter? Over."

"_Carter here, sir. Over_."

"Can you get a lock on our position? Over."

"_Yes, sir. Over._"

"The building in front of us? Over."

"_There is a concentration of life forms and activity in front of you. Over._"

"Yeah, that's the building. We're directly in front of the door to the tower with Jonas. I want you to lay down fire as a distraction. Aim for the beach to the south of the building. It's deserted. Give me some continuous bursts until I call for a beam out. Over."

"_Yes, sir. Over."_

"Light it up. O'Neill, out."

He secured his radio and glanced at Teal'c. "Everyone, get ready."

A moment later, twin bottles of bright red energy sliced down from heaven and exploded into the sandy beach. The explosion was blinding in the dusky light of the disappearing day. Chaos erupted in the palace. They could hear shouts and running feet. The door in the base of the tower opened and a dozen armed men came pounding out, going in the direction of the beach. Two more bursts of energy sizzled into the beach, blasting sand in all directions and turning it to glass. Pandemonium ruled as men ran from the palace like bees swarming out of a hive.

"They left the door open," Mitchell observed.

"Amateurs," Teal'c said.

"Don't get cocky," O'Neill warned, "Let's go, kids."

They scrambled to their feet and sprinted the short distance to the tower just as the ground shook from additional blasts. Jack spared a moment to look at the blast pattern. Carter had drawn a straight line down the beach and was now returning, backtracking closer to the water. _Damn_, the woman could shoot.

It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the interior light but as the day had been sinking into the ocean the change wasn't that abrupt. There was a contingent of guards coming towards them, aiming some kind of carbine weapon. Jack thought he would just as soon not discover how deadly they were. He brought his P90 up and fired a lethal spray, sending most of them spinning into the walls before falling over. Beside Jack, Teal'c's staff weapon was speaking with authority and doing its own damage.

Mitchell simply plowed into the oncoming defense like a pile driver. He planted his right foot and spun, dispatching three of the guards with nothing more than his arms and legs.

They continued like that all the way up the tower stairs, leaving guards in assorted heaps with various parts scattered about, until they stopped meeting resistance. Finishing the distance to the door at the top, O'Neill commented, "Sodan training?"

"Yes, sir," Mitchell answered, noting to himself that - for a middle-aged guy who had been flying a desk for two years - Jack wasn't even winded.

"Pretty useful," Jack said, as they stopped in front of the only door. He nodded at Teal'c.

The Jaffa lifted his staff weapon and blew the door frame to charred fragments. It swung open as if it was drunk.

There was Jonas, just lying there, flat on his back on a slab. There was a little gray device on his forehead that had a light display across it but it was unlit.

Teal'c stood in the door, guarding it. Jack walked over to Jonas and said, "Hey, Jonas! You awake?"

To everyone's shock Quinn's eyes snapped open and his expression was completely clear.

"General!" He said, with clear delight, sitting up. "Whatever they were giving me wore off a little bit ago but I wasn't sure who it was coming up here. So I decided to pretend I was still out. What happened? How did you get here?"

"Kind of a long story," Jack said, helping Jonas stand. He was a little shaky on his legs but Jack was holding onto him anyway.

Teal'c was already on the radio. "Colonel Carter? Over."

"_Here. Over."_

"Beam us out. Over"

The radio communication was never severed. The four men simply vanished immediately in a blinding flash of blue light.

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	12. Chapter 12

Jack didn't let go of Jonas immediately. Quinn was still too shaky on his feet. But a moment after they materialized on the bridge of the Al-Kesh, Sam had barreled into them for a fierce hug. Jack slipped his arm away and let Jonas cling to Sam for a moment.

"I should have known you would all come. I shouldn't have doubted that," Jonas said, quietly.

"You doubted?" Sam asked, leaning back to look at him.

"I know! Crazy huh?" Jonas grinned. "General, I don't even know how to begin to thank you."

"We'll think of something," Jack shrugged with a twinkle in his eye.

Jonas got a hearty arm clasp and hug from Teal'c and was then introduced to Mitchell, whom he thanked profusely.

"Not a problem," Cam drawled softly and meant it.

Vala and Sancha, slightly damp around the edges from their showers, joined them, which required further introductions. Jonas nodded in dawning understanding as Sancha's role in this was explained.

"You feel up to a trip to the planet?" Jack asked, "We have a couple of surprises for you."

"Well I love surprises, and I've already had a few so far, so let's go," Jonas grinned.

With Vala holding onto Sancha and Sam to Jonas, Jack hit the remote and beamed them away.

(0)

The reception in the Command Room at the Kelownan settlement was very different from the last time SG-1 had been in the room. Vacik was absent. Mraisch was tied to a chair in front of the desk and gagged. Rising from the chair behind the desk was Daniel Jackson.

"Welcome back," he said. He was smiling but everyone who knew him could feel the icy anger simmering just below his pleasant expression. "It's good to see you again, Jonas. We've secured the site and Commander Vacik is with SG-8 overseeing the evacuation to the Beta site. The ruins there should provide the Kelownans enough infrastructure for now." He nodded to the stranger in their midst, "You must be Sancha. I'm Daniel Jackson. Welcome back as well."

"Daniel!" Sam said, delighted. "SG-8?"

He nodded. "They volunteered to be the backup team. Jillian and I had a brief discussion about how it was okay for me to go if it was okay for her to go. So here I am. To make the report as short as possible: venimus, vidimus, clunes calcitravimus."

"What?" Jack asked.

Daniel looked at him over the top of his glasses and his expression said that he strongly suspected Jack knew perfectly well what he had just said. He pointedly didn't answer.

"I need to thank you all," Sancha said, "It's not every day that anyone gets the better of my father."

"I warned him," Jack said, lightly, "Playing games with SG-1 is not a good way to maintain a healthy life or any kind of power structure."

"He and I have a great deal to talk about," Sancha said, "Starting with his willingness to let me rot in a spice mine owned by his sworn enemy as long as he got his precious Fortune 3000."

"You might want to consider," Vala said, shrewdly, "that he set you up deliberately to be kidnapped so that he could take the ship _and_ gain control of your company."

Sancha's eyes narrowed dangerously. Sam spoke up. "Not just that. The targeting array on the ship did exactly what it was designed to do. While it was sitting there on that landing pad it made a complete sweep, diagnostic and recording of Ar'loc's defensive system and the layout of the fortress. I suspect he was going to use it to destroy Ar'loc once and for all, whether you were out of there or not."

While the women had been speaking, Mraisch had turned the color of a fish belly and Sancha's face turned to fury glazed stone. "You miserable, sneaky, cold-hearted manipulative _bastard_," she snapped. She took a deep breath and turned to Sam and Vala, "I know he never promised to pay you. Vala explained everything while we were cleaning up. I can't tell you how grateful to the two of you I am for getting me out of there. Name your price."

They exchanged glances and then Sam said, "We got Jonas back and that's really the reason we did it."

Sancha waved a dismissive hand. "I doubt it. You already had a plan to rescue your friend that had nothing at all to do with rescuing me. I mean it, name your price."

"If we had to have something, I'd like a copy of the ship's recording of Ar'loc's defenses," Sam said.

"Me too," Vala said instantly, "There is some serious retribution I would like to rain down on his tattooed head."

Teal'c rumbled to life. "The Jaffa would also enjoy a chance to bring him to justice." When Sam and Vala looked at him in surprise, he explained, "He is one of ours. He dishonors everything it means to be Jaffa."

Sancha threw a malicious smile at her father, whose eyes grew wide. Muffled protests came from behind the gag. "Oh, I can do better than that. Take the ship."

Sam looked stunned. "Oh we can't-"

"Yes you can. The ship is a prototype. There are already more coming out of my shipyard. _He_," she waved a dismissive hand towards her father, "never paid me for it. It's mine to do with as I please and I please to give it you."

Vala and Sam stared at each other for a long time. Then Vala said, "Well, I don't actually need it. I've got a few ships stashed all over the galaxy. But take it if you want it. I just want to be along for the ride when you take out Ar'loc."

"Done!" Sam grinned, thrilled with the idea of all that technology in her hands. She turned back to Sancha, "I'll take it. Thank you." Then she looked with question and hope at Jack because keeping that technology out of the hands of the Air Force was going to be tricky.

But Jack just shrugged. "I don't have to report your private property to anyone," he said, "We'll make it our secret."

Sam's grateful smile was dazzling.

At that moment there was a movement at the door and Ashlen came running in, out of breath and wide-eyed. "_Jonas!"_

She ran across the room and into his startled arms, throwing hers around his neck and holding on for dear life. Her mouth reached for his and he responded on instinct. They kissed with the urgency of lost love found, of heart's pain eased at last. Jonas's arms tightened around her they clung together that way until they had to come up for air.

"Hi," he said, looking down into her eyes.

"Hi, yourself," she answered.

"You're kind of pretty," Jonas went on, "Of course if my wife finds out that you kissed me like that we're both going to be in big trouble."

Ashlen laughed and nuzzled into his chest. Vala, smiling broadly, said, "Ashlen, I think I like your husband," which made everyone laugh.

"Did you hear?" Ashlen asked Jonas, "They're evacuating us to the Beta site. We'll be under Earth protection."

"Such as it is," Jack said, cautiously.

"What about Ainsley, and your parents?" Jonas asked.

"We have a cloaked ship," Jack said, "We'll go back and get as many people as we can onto it and take them there. I can't promise we'll be able to keep doing that."

"I might be able to convince the Jaffa to render assistance," Teal'c said, "though I cannot promise anything either."

It didn't matter that Teal'c could not swear to the help. Both Kelownans were smiling. "It's more hope than we've had in a long time," Jonas said, looking around at the team he should never have doubted, not even for a moment. "Thank you. From both of us. From _all_ of us."

(0)

Venimus, vidimus, clunes calcitravimus – we came, we saw, we kicked ass.


	13. Chapter 13

Jack didn't let go of Jonas immediately. Quinn was still too shaky on his feet. But a moment after they materialized on the bridge of the Al-Kesh, Sam had barreled into them for a fierce hug. Jack slipped his arm away and let Jonas cling to Sam for a moment.

"I should have known you would all come. I shouldn't have doubted that," Jonas said, quietly.

"You doubted?" Sam asked, leaning back to look at him.

"I know! Crazy huh?" Jonas grinned. "General, I don't even know how to begin to thank you."

"We'll think of something," Jack shrugged with a twinkle in his eye.

Jonas got a hearty arm clasp and hug from Teal'c and was then introduced to Mitchell, whom he thanked profusely.

"Not a problem," Cam drawled softly and meant it.

Vala and Sancha, slightly damp around the edges from their showers, joined them, which required further introductions. Jonas nodded in dawning understanding as Sancha's role in this was explained.

"You feel up to a trip to the planet?" Jack asked, "We have a couple of surprises for you."

"Well I love surprises, and I've already had a few so far, so let's go," Jonas grinned.

With Vala holding onto Sancha and Sam to Jonas, Jack hit the remote and beamed them away.

(0)

The reception in the Command Room at the Kelownan settlement was very different from the last time SG-1 had been in the room. Vacik was absent. Mraisch was tied to a chair in front of the desk and gagged. Rising from the chair behind the desk was Daniel Jackson.

"Welcome back," he said. He was smiling but everyone who knew him could feel the icy anger simmering just below his pleasant expression. "It's good to see you again, Jonas. We've secured the site and Commander Vacik is with SG-8 overseeing the evacuation to the Beta site. The ruins there should provide the Kelownans enough infrastructure for now." He nodded to the stranger in their midst, "You must be Sancha. I'm Daniel Jackson. Welcome back as well."

"Daniel!" Sam said, delighted. "SG-8?"

He nodded. "They volunteered to be the backup team. Jillian and I had a brief discussion about how it was okay for me to go if it was okay for her to go. So here I am. To make the report as short as possible: venimus, vidimus, clunes calcitravimus."

"What?" Jack asked.

Daniel looked at him over the top of his glasses and his expression said that he strongly suspected Jack knew perfectly well what he had just said. He pointedly didn't answer.

"I need to thank you all," Sancha said, "It's not every day that anyone gets the better of my father."

"I warned him," Jack said, lightly, "Playing games with SG-1 is not a good way to maintain a healthy life or any kind of power structure."

"He and I have a great deal to talk about," Sancha said, "Starting with his willingness to let me rot in a spice mine owned by his sworn enemy as long as he got his precious Fortune 3000."

"You might want to consider," Vala said, shrewdly, "that he set you up deliberately to be kidnapped so that he could take the ship _and_ gain control of your company."

Sancha's eyes narrowed dangerously. Sam spoke up. "Not just that. The targeting array on the ship did exactly what it was designed to do. While it was sitting there on that landing pad it made a complete sweep, diagnostic and recording of Ar'loc's defensive system and the layout of the fortress. I suspect he was going to use it to destroy Ar'loc once and for all, whether you were out of there or not."

While the women had been speaking, Mraisch had turned the color of a fish belly and Sancha's face turned to fury glazed stone. "You miserable, sneaky, cold-hearted manipulative _bastard_," she snapped. She took a deep breath and turned to Sam and Vala, "I know he never promised to pay you. Vala explained everything while we were cleaning up. I can't tell you how grateful to the two of you I am for getting me out of there. Name your price."

They exchanged glances and then Sam said, "We got Jonas back and that's really the reason we did it."

Sancha waved a dismissive hand. "I doubt it. You already had a plan to rescue your friend that had nothing at all to do with rescuing me. I mean it, name your price."

"If we had to have something, I'd like a copy of the ship's recording of Ar'loc's defenses," Sam said.

"Me too," Vala said instantly, "There is some serious retribution I would like to rain down on his tattooed head."

Teal'c rumbled to life. "The Jaffa would also enjoy a chance to bring him to justice." When Sam and Vala looked at him in surprise, he explained, "He is one of ours. He dishonors everything it means to be Jaffa."

Sancha threw a malicious smile at her father, whose eyes grew wide. Muffled protests came from behind the gag. "Oh, I can do better than that. Take the ship."

Sam looked stunned. "Oh we can't-"

"Yes you can. The ship is a prototype. There are already more coming out of my shipyard. _He_," she waved a dismissive hand towards her father, "never paid me for it. It's mine to do with as I please and I please to give it you."

Vala and Sam stared at each other for a long time. Then Vala said, "Well, I don't actually need it. I've got a few ships stashed all over the galaxy. But take it if you want it. I just want to be along for the ride when you take out Ar'loc."

"Done!" Sam grinned, thrilled with the idea of all that technology in her hands. She turned back to Sancha, "I'll take it. Thank you." Then she looked with question and hope at Jack because keeping that technology out of the hands of the Air Force was going to be tricky.

But Jack just shrugged. "I don't have to report your private property to anyone," he said, "We'll make it our secret."

Sam's grateful smile was dazzling.

At that moment there was a movement at the door and Ashlen came running in, out of breath and wide-eyed. "_Jonas!"_

She ran across the room and into his startled arms, throwing hers around his neck and holding on for dear life. Her mouth reached for his and he responded on instinct. They kissed with the urgency of lost love found, of heart's pain eased at last. Jonas's arms tightened around her they clung together that way until they had to come up for air.

"Hi," he said, looking down into her eyes.

"Hi, yourself," she answered.

"You're kind of pretty," Jonas went on, "Of course if my wife finds out that you kissed me like that we're both going to be in big trouble."

Ashlen laughed and nuzzled into his chest. Vala, smiling broadly, said, "Ashlen, I think I like your husband," which made everyone laugh.

"Did you hear?" Ashlen asked Jonas, "They're evacuating us to the Beta site. We'll be under Earth protection."

"Such as it is," Jack said, cautiously.

"What about Ainsley, and your parents?" Jonas asked.

"We have a cloaked ship," Jack said, "We'll go back and get as many people as we can onto it and take them there. I can't promise we'll be able to keep doing that."

"I might be able to convince the Jaffa to render assistance," Teal'c said, "though I cannot promise anything either."

It didn't matter that Teal'c could not swear to the help. Both Kelownans were smiling. "It's more hope than we've had in a long time," Jonas said, looking around at the team he should never have doubted, not even for a moment. "Thank you. From both of us. From _all_ of us."

(0)

Venimus, vidimus, clunes calcitravimus – we came, we saw, we kicked ass.


End file.
